My first UHD disc player was, unfortunately, the Samsung UBD-K8500, which had an odd shape with its curved front to match their curved displays, and was also the first player to market in February 2016. I was not a fan of that player due to its tiny remote with tiny buttons, most of the smart apps were incompatible with the player, and frequent HDMI handshake issues. One year later, Sony entered the market with the UBP-X800, and I exchanged the Samsung for the Sony. For the most part, it was a step up. The Sony featured a very solid metal chassis compared to the plastic shell of the Samsung plus it would play SACD discs.
That is not to say that the Sony didn’t have issues; it would randomly lock up when watching either a disc or using one of the built-in streaming apps, and the only way to temporarily fix the lockup was to unplug the power...
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